Witness
by lunasammygrimm
Summary: Percy had never faced problems at school. But when one of his close friends starts getting bullied, he wants to step in and help her. After bringing himself into the problem, Percy decides to encourage the girl to never doubt herself. By doing that, he learns about her past, a secret that she hid from everyone. OOC/AU **COMPANION FIC TO DOUBT**
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I can't believe that I am doing what I said I **_**wouldn't**_** do, which is to write another story for Doubt! But, I wanted to write from Percy's POV and have more character development for him and have a bit more Percabeth! I definitely would read Doubt before reading this to have it make a bit more sense. Also, a reminder that it says OOC inthe summary, but it's not Percy who is OOC, it's Annabeth. Anyway, on with the story! I hope you enjoy, and please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series.**

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To be honest, I actually like school. I don't have a problem with any of the teachers at my school, and only a few kids in my grade can really get on my nerves. So when summer break ended, I started getting excited for the first day of school. Even though it meant going back to homework, classwork, and waking up early, I was glad to get back to Goode Elementary School. This year, I had been put in Mr. Brunner's fifth grade class. He seemed like a great teacher, and my two best friends also have him, so I have a feeling that I'll enjoy this year. Of course, that could change, but for now, on the first day of school, I'm curious about what will come my way this year.

I looked at my reflection up and down in my mirror, nodding to myself that I had a good outfit on to kick start this school year. The weather surprisingly hadn't been cold recently, so I was wearing a gray and navy blue t-shirt, faded jean shorts, and sneakers. I grabbed my black backpack from its spot on my bed, and headed downstairs.

In the kitchen, my mom was waiting for me with a warm plate layered with blue chocolate chip pancakes. She had been making those pancakes for years, ever since I had become obsessed with the colour blue as a child, and it was a tradition for her to make them on my first day of school. When I get home today, she'll have a plate of blue chocolate chip cookies waiting for me, another tradition.

I gobbled them up in minutes, chugged down a glass of juice, and ran back upstairs to comb my hair and brush my teeth. When I returned to my mom by the front door, she wished me luck on my first day, and reminded me that my step-dad also wanted me to have a great day. Paul, my step-dad, is a teacher at Goode High School, and had already left for his first day before I woke up. He had married my mom a few years ago, and is an amazing dad to me.

I headed out the door of our skinny house, and started walking. I only live a few blocks from Goode Elementary, so I get to walk to and from school. After I walked a block, I heard someone calling my name.

"Percy!"

I turned around, and saw a girl in my grade that I was friends with. I waved to her, and Annabeth jogged over to catch up with me. We fell in step together, and started talking. She had gotten Brunner as her teacher too, which means that this would be the fourth year we shared a class. We had been friends for a while, and were pretty close. She and her friends weren't snobs, and were smart and very nice, which is why I had enjoyed hanging out with them in the past. In my opinion, Annabeth was also cute, and I had had a crush on her previously, so when I talked to her I had to deal with my best friends giving me weird looks. But hearing her amazing smart opinions on topics was worth the strange faces. She was definitely the smartest kid in our grade and school, but she never believed anyone when they told her that.

As Annabeth and I turned the next corner, Goode Elementary School came into view before us. The huge brick building consisted of thirty classrooms, two play structures for the younger grades, three lunch courts, and a whole bunch of kids standing with and greeting their friends. Goode was quite a progressive elementary school, so most of the kids were extremely smart and mature. I think every girl in the entire school loved that they didn't have to deal with "immature boys", and I liked that nobody really acted like a complete idiot.

My best friends Grover and Nico called me over to a table they were sitting at, and I reluctantly said bye to Annabeth. She simply nodded to me, and I noticed that she was staring at Luke Castellan and Rachel Dare. I shrugged off the possibility that she might like Luke, and happily greeted Grover and Nico.

Grover had been my friend since first grade, when I decided to share a cookie with him. Grover is actually crippled, and uses crutches all day. Kids in our grade seem to enjoy tormenting him about it, but he'll just make a witty comeback to them and then they'll leave him alone. He has a great sense of humor, and I love how he stands up for himself. He became my best friend last year when he ditched his other friends, who he said were jerks to him, and started hanging out with Nico and I a lot more. The three of us had hung out almost every day this last summer break, and had gone to some camps together, which we all loved.

Nico had also been my best friend since first grade, and had gladly accepted Grover into our two-person group in fourth grade. Nico wears a lot of black, which some kids find creepy, but I like. He has an older sister, Bianca, who is really awesome and is a senior in high school. Their mom died when they were little, so their dad has been taking care of them for years, and has done a good job doing it. Nico is smarter than Grover and I, but isn't as friendly as us. He's not mean; he just doesn't trust a lot of people.

The three of us talked about Mr. Brunner and what we hoped to do in class this year until the bell rang and we headed through a hallway to his classroom, passing some bathrooms and a storage closet on the way there. I started to get more excited as we neared the classroom and hung up our backpacks outside the classroom. Other kids who had had Mr. Brunner in the past said that fifth grade was a breeze, everyone was calm, and you never had to worry about anything. Those kids have _got_ to be the dumbest people ever, or were just extremely lucky.

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**Alright! So that was the first chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, review, follow, and favorite please! I can't believe I am writing this story, but I am excited to try to write from Percy's POV and add more character development to him! Thank you for reading!**

**-lunasammygrimm *I changed my penname!***


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO books or picture for this fanfic.**

Nico, Grover, and I all walked into 's classroom and immediately grabbed a cluster of four desks near the back of the classroom. Everyone got to choose their own desks on the first day of school, and we thought we should take advantage of that to sit with each other. Grover sat down first, and rested his crutches on the empty seat next to him. Nico and I followed him, sitting down and then turning to face the whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

Next to us, Annabeth was sitting down with her friends Clarisse, Thalia, Silena and Katie. Once again, she was staring at Luke and Rachel, who had just entered the classroom. I groaned on the inside, and really hoped that she didn't have a crush on him.

Mr. Brunner came into the classroom with a smile on his face, and welcomed us to the first day of school. He wore his classic tweed jacket, and still had the beard he's had since I started at Goode Elementary. Mr. Brunner started reviewing the topics and units we would be covering this year, and told us that our PE teacher this year would be Coach Argus, and would have PE directly after lunch. During his short lecture, I caught myself staring at Annabeth and then glancing at Luke.

I bit my lip, and blocked Mr. Brunner's voice out of my head as I continued wondering about the two of them. I knew they were friends in the past, because they also used to hang out with Grover. In my opinion Luke was a complete jerk, and when both Annabeth and Grover stopped hanging out with him, it was for the better. I mean, why would Annabeth even want to hang out with him? And now, Annabeth was staring at Rachel and Luke's table again. They were sitting with their friends; Charles, Lee, Michael, and Chris. Ugh. Could Annabeth like one of _them?_

I finally stopped staring at Annabeth and Luke when Nico poked me in the back and smirked at me. I leaned over to him and whispered to him,

"Annabeth's been staring at Luke and Rachel all morning. Do you think she likes him?"

"Jealous much?" Nico whispered back.

I rolled my eyes, and listened to Grover's answer.

"There is no way she likes him. You would be the only guy in this school that she would like," Grover whispered.

"Really?"

"Well yeah, I mean, I think you're the guy she trusts at this school, except maybe Grover."

"Really?"

"Yes!" Grover hissed.

I kept myself from jumping for joy at what they had just said, and listened to Mr. Brunner. He was instructing the class to write a short paper about themselves, hobbies, and friends. We would turn it in before lunch, and were allowed to get our friend's opinions on you. We all pulled out paper, and got to work.

Voices soon filled the air as kids traded stories, walked around, and started writing. Grover was going to write a lot about his disability, Nico was writing about him and his family, and I didn't really know how to start out. My life was simple, and I didn't really have any huge goals or problems with myself. After a couple of minutes, I stopped staring at my paper, took a deep breath, and started working. I started writing about how I was happiest with friends and my family, and how I would do anything for them.

Once I started, I couldn't stop writing. I continued to write about my friends, and then talked about how I love the sea and marine animals. My dad, who had split up with my mom when I was young, had owned an aquarium and used to teach me all about marine life. I never stopped being interested in that subject, and own tons of books on all marine animals. My step-dad, Paul also teaches me everything he knows on the subject, which isn't a lot, as he only teaches high school English. While I wrote about how I loved having Paul as my dad, and how it's awesome that he makes my mom happy, I saw Luke heading over to Annabeth's table.

I jerked my head up to stare at Luke, who stood above Annabeth. Grover and Nico were also looking at them, curiosity written on their faces.

"Hey Blondie," Luke said to Annabeth.

I gritted my teeth as I saw Annabeth frown at her paper, obviously annoyed by Luke. Her friends had all looked up at him, and were glaring at him.

"What do you want, Luke?" Annabeth hissed, standing up.

Behind her, Annabeth's friend's jaws dropped; their eyes wide with shock. Katie was terrified, looking worried that they were going to start a fight. Luke sneered down at Annabeth, and responded.

"Aw, come on Annabeth! Can't two friends have a chat?"

He checked to see that Mr. Brunner was distracted, and I saw that his whole table groups, including Rachel, were watching the exchange.

"I hardly think we're friends, Luke," Annabeth said, glaring daggers into Luke's blue eyes.

"Ah, that's right," Luke said, nodding his head. "I forgot our conversation in the beginning of fourth grade. We're more than friends, we're like-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Luke!" Grover suddenly got up from our table and joined Annabeth's. Nico and I rose slightly out of our seats in case we had to hold him back.

"Go back to your table cripple!" Luke snarled.

Nico pulled me down to my seat when he saw my anger toward Luke. Fortunately, Annabeth took over.

"Hey! Lay off of Grover okay?" she shot at Luke.

"Whatever," he sneered. "Have fun with the freaks."

Luke sneered at Annabeth again, before gesturing to Thalia, Clarisse, Katie, and Silena when he said "freaks." He turned, and headed back to his table, to where Rachel was smirking at the girls. Grover was looking down at his feet, and it seemed like he was going to cry. Annabeth stood in front of him, and Grover said something to her that I couldn't hear.

He returned to his seat, where Nico and I patted him on the back and complained about how much a jerk Luke was. He nodded, and I could tell that he wanted to get off the subject of Luke. I went back to working on my paper. As I wrote, I thought about what Luke had said, the "We're more than friends" part. What had he meant by that? How was he planning to finish that sentence before Grover cut him off? After their heated exchange, I knew that Annabeth didn't like Luke, but I didn't know the history between them. _Had_ Annabeth used to like Luke?

By the time it was almost time for lunch, I had finished my paper and had pushed the thoughts about Luke and Annabeth out of my head. I figured I was just overthinking things, and Luke was just messing with her and Grover. Whichever it was, I hated Annabeth and Grover getting ticked off by Luke, and hoped that if he annoyed them again, I would do something about it, and not just sit in my seat.

**Alright! End of second chapter, which I hoped you enjoyed! Please review, follow, and favorite! Thank you!**

**-lunasammygrimm**

**P.S. Percy's step-dad seems so cool ;) Hehe hope u got that Grace!**

After a minute, the lunch bell rang, which lead to an immediate stampede to the door. I hung back a bit with Nico, and before we reached the door, Mr. Brunner called us to his desk. We headed over, wondering what he wanted.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

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By the time everyone had finished their short essays, the lunch bell rang, which lead to an immediate stampede to the door. I hung back a bit with Nico, but before we reached the door, Mr. Brunner called us to his desk. We headed over, wondering what he wanted.

"What's up ?" Nico asked him.

I glanced towards Grover, shrugged at him, and beckoned him to go out to lunch. He shrugged back, and walked out the door. I turned back to , and listened to what he wanted.

"Well, Percy and Nico, I know that both of you are responsible and smart students, and I have to ask a favor of you," said.

"Sure! What favor?" I asked him.

"This is actually a big task, and you don't have to accept it if you don't want. But, my classroom can get very dusty in the summer and always continues to get dirty in the school year. Of course, the janitors come by, but they always get the nooks and crannies. So, I was hoping that you two could come by every morning for the school year and clean my classroom. You know, dust the shelves, and clean desks and the whiteboard. You can also bring in two friends to help you, and once again, you don't have to accept if you don't want to," the teacher explained.

"Every day?" Nico questioned.

"Well, yes, but I would give you and your two friends extra credit," said.

I glanced at Nico, and looked back at .

"Um, can the two of us go discus this?" I asked my teacher.

smiled, and nodded. Nico and I walked over a few yards, and looked at each other.

"Do you think we should do it?" I asked him.

"I think it would really cool if we did it, and I don't even mind waking up early to do it, so I think we should do it."

"Alright!"

We walked back to , and told him that we would gladly come in every morning to do some extra cleaning in the room. gladly showed us where he kept the cleaning supplies, how to get the keys to enter the classroom, and told us to get here thirty minutes before school started each morning. After that, he excused us to go out lunch and we headed out to the upper yard. All the fifth graders eat at the upper yard area, where the younger kids have their snack break in the morning. There aren't many tables in the area, but there are many benches and planter boxes where everyone sits. There is almost no adult supervision, which I find awesome.

"So, who should we ask to help clean the classroom? Obviously Grover, but who else?" Nico asked me as we walked over to the upper yard.

"I don't know, you can choose," I responded.

"What about Annabeth?"

"What?"

"Yeah! She's nice, and I'm sure she would love extra credit. We should ask her at lunch," Nico said.

"Alright," I nodded.

We had almost reached the lunch court, and when it came in view, I saw a group of kids surrounding Grover and Annabeth. I started walking faster toward the group. Luke, his group of friends, and Rachel were talking to Grover, who looked extremely miserable. He was sitting at one of the picnic tables, trying to eat his lunch. At the other table, Annabeth and her friends were looking at Grover. As I hurried towards them, Rachel handed Grover his binder after Luke, who stood next to Rachel, glanced at the cover. Rachel said something to Grover, which made a shocked look appear on his face.

"Grover!" I called out as Nico and I pushed past some kids standing by a trash can.

We reached him, and immediately started asking him what had happened. He assured us that he was okay after he told us how Rachel and Luke had just teased him about a picture he had and his crippled legs. Nico and I turned to send death glares at Rachel and Luke, who retreated to a bench to sit down and eat at. Grover kept assuring us that he was fine, and that he didn't care about what he said. I could tell that he was just trying to make us stop questioning him, but I stopped asking him if he was okay.

I caught Annabeth's eye from where she was sitting from the table in the shade, and she beckoned us over. I pulled Nico and Grover over to her table, trying to get a good look at a picture on Grover's binder. He moved his hand so it was covering the candid, so I just decided to try to look at it in class.

"It looks like you guys need a place to sit," Annabeth said with a smile.

We nodded, and gladly sat down with them. Next to me, Annabeth greeted us and then poked Grover across the table.

"You okay?"

"I don't know. I'm still floored at their behavior. Luke's, I mean, not Rachel's. She's always been a jerk to us," Grover said.

I thought it was just Rachel harassing him earlier, but I guess Luke had decided to jump in. Ugh. Why didn't they just leave my friends alone?

"What was Rachel looking at anyways?" Annabeth asked.

"A picture from last year," Grover said, and pushed the picture in the binder towards her.

Annabeth picked it up and her mouth dropped. One of her hands slightly rose to mouth in shock, before she passed the picture back. As Grover slid it in his binder, I finally got a good look at it. In the picture, Luke, Charles, Chris, Grover, and Annabeth were all standing together smiling at the camera. I recognized that the picture had been taken at a park where our grade had a picnic at. I was shocked at how well they seemed to be getting along in the picture, compared to how Luke, Annabeth, and Grover had been acting today.

"Don't let it get to you Grover," I reassured him. "Those guys are first-class idiots."

After my comment, we pushed the subject aside and started talking about school sports. Even though we were at a elementary school, we had school sports that we could try out for and compete in. Since I swam year round at a local aquatic club, I wasn't planning on playing any sports for Goode. Grover couldn't do any sports with his disability, and Nico wasn't into sports, so they weren't going to try out for any teams. Goode had track-and-field, soccer, softball, baseball, and volleyball, but only fourth and fifth graders could play.

As Annabeth talked, I had an idea. It was cool to walk with her to school, and I wanted to do it again sometime. Would she want that? I don't know, but it was worth a shot to ask her. So, I thought about the phrase "All you need is twenty seconds of insane courage" to encourage myself to just ask her, and nudged her arm.

She raised her blond eyebrows at me, and I bit my lip.

"So...um..well, doyouthinkyou'llbewalkinghomealotthisyear?" I muttered, blushing the whole time. Yeah, real smooth job.

Annabeth laughed, which made me sheepishly grin at her,

"Yeah, I mean, unless I get onto the track team and have practices after school; I think I'll be walking back and forth from school this year," she answered.

"Well I was wondering if you'd be interested in walking together 'cause we live so close and stuff?" I asked, hoping she would say yes.

"That would be cool! Thanks Percy!"

I felt relieved that she said yes, and got excited to not be bored walking home, and be able to talk to her a lot more.

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**Alright! I hoped you enjoyed that chapter! If you want to know more about what Rachel and Luke said to Grover, the whole conversation is in Chapter 4 in Doubt. Anyway, please review, follow, and favorite! Thanks! -lunasammygrimm**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

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I was still thinking about walking home with Annabeth to and from school when Katie broke my thoughts.

"Percy!" she called from the other side of the table. "So why did you and Nico stay so late in 's classroom?"

"Oh yeah- I forgot!" I answered. "Well he was wondering if I could help clean his classroom every morning before school starts. He said he would tell me where he puts his keys to get in and that I could choose three friends to help out with it. And the four of us would just wipe down desks and cabinets. And we would get extra-credit for the year!"

"So, who's going to do it with you?" Clarisse said.

I looked at Nico and Grover, and they nodded to me to answer her. Once again, I reminded myself to just straight up ask Annabeth if she was interested or not.

"Well, Nico and Grover obviously, and I was actually hoping that Annabeth could help us," I said.

Annabeth, whose head had been down, looked up with surprise at our invitation.

"Glad to help! And anything for extra credit!" Annabeth said excitedly.

Nico gave me a look that said "I told you so" to prove that he had been right when he said that Annabeth would like the extra credit. Right after that, the bell rang to signal the second half of lunch, where the fifth graders leave the lunch court and go to the lower yard area for recess. The guys, Annabeth and her friends, and I packed up our lunches and headed down to the other yard. Clarisse jogged ahead of our group to grab a red rubber ball.

"Handball anyone?" she asked us.

We laughed at her excitement towards the game, and followed Clarisse to a court to compete in. After a few minutes of playing, Clarisse was completely dominating and beating all of us. The eight of us decided to take a quick break and join Grover on a short wall next to the court. Some fourth grade girls hurried over to the now vacant court and started playing.

"Are you all going to Goode Middle School?" Annabeth asked the rest of the group.

"Yeah, I'm going to all three Goode schools," I answered first.

Goode had three schools; elementary, middle, and high school. They were all located near the others, and most kids went to all three schools. Like I told Annabeth, I was going to all three.

Next to me, Nico shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm supposed to wait until the end of the year to decide. You know, if I'm positive I like the feeling of Goode schools," he said. "And Bianca's off to college so I don't have to worry about her schedule not being the same as mine if I transfer."

I already knew that, and I really hoped that he would decide to go to the next Goode schools with us.

"I'm going to continue onto Goode Middle School with Percy. The schools are good for kids with disabilities." Grover said.

Once again, Grover had told me this before, and I was really glad that the two of us would be sticking together.

Annabeth snorted, her arms crossed.

"The schools may respect kids with disabilities but the kids sure don't," she spewed out.

It was surprising to hear Annabeth say something bad about her school, but I nodded in agreement to her statement. The others also nodded, everyone's mind on Rachel and Luke,.

"Well, I can all tell you truthfully that Red Head will not be going to Goode Middle School or High School. She's transferring to Clarion Ladies Academy because her parents want her to go and I think she thinks that everyone here isn't up to her standards," Silena said.

Of course, I was happy with that information, but I knew something that wouldn't be as exciting.

"Yeah, but Luke is coming to Goode Middle School so we're stuck with him for many more years," I told them.

My friend's faces dropped a little, but before someone could think of something to say in answer to what I told them, the bell rang.

We returned to the classroom, and Mr. Brunner handed out the science textbooks we would be using in class this year. At our table, Nico and I told him that we had chosen Grover and Annabeth to help us out in the classroom in the mornings. Then, he passed around a plant to everyone and told us that later in the year each table would be studying their own plant while learning about photosynthesis. I wasn't excited about this project, and I could tell that my friends were not impressed either.

"Yay. Plants. WooHoo," Nico said in monotone voice, rolling his eyes.

"What should we name ours?" Grover added sarcastically.

We smirked at each other, and talked more about how "excited" we were for this plant project we would do in March. After our last joke about us being "science and garden buddies," Mr. Brunner wrapped up class by handing us paperwork for our parents, and telling us that we didn't have any homework. The bell rang shortly after that, and everyone started packing up their work and talking to their friends.

"Percy, Nico, Grover, Annabeth- may I have a word with you?" Mr. Brunner called to us as we were about to leave.

The four of us walked over to his desk; Annabeth nodding to the girls at her group to leave.

"So," Mr. Brunner addressed us. "You four will be cleaning my classroom in the mornings every day. I do not expect it to be spotless, but please don't fool around. You will start on the Monday of the second week of school. Percy, I will give you the keys to my classroom at the end of this week. Don't lose them. I think that is about it as far as instructions go. The cleaning stuff is in that cabinet."

He pointed to a tall cabinet in the corner, and then signaled us to go. Thalia, Clarisse, Silena, and Katie were outside waiting for Annabeth. While I waited for Annabeth to say good-bye to her friends, I waved to Grover and Nico. After a minute, Annabeth turned to me, and we headed out to the street.

She started a conversation, and we told each other about what we had done over the summer, our stories making the other laugh. We talked for the whole fifteen minute walk, until the two of us waved good-bye, and split. For the last block of my walk, a stupid smile was plastered on my face.

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**Alright, end of chapter four! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please follow, favorite, and review! Thanks! -lunasammygrimm**


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